3G seems to have entered India on a negative note as the services offered by the two PSUs, BSNL and MTNL are under scanner from the Intelligence Bureau.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) is of the opinion that real time monitoring of the video call services offered as part of 3G services by the two firms is not possible. It has asked the two companies to demonstrate such a monitoring.

“The IB was of the view that till such facility is not made available by the service providers, the various services should not be offered to the subscribers. Therefore, MTNL and BSNL may not provide such services to subscribers till monitoring is not available with IB,” said a DoT note to the two firms following IB concerns.

The two companies however are in a complete state of denial. An MTNL official has reportedly stated that the onus of deploying proper and compatible monitoring mechanisms lies with the IB and hence it should not be held responsible.

The two PSUs have gained head start advantage over its private counterparts by way of being granted 3G spectrum. While there are other services also on offer as part of the 3G services, the two PSUs incidentally have given more prominence to the video call services and in fact both the firms marked their respective 3G service launch with the video call feature.